


The Wolf and the Moon

by mehs



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-07-12 18:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19950742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mehs/pseuds/mehs
Summary: A Halo 30 Day Ship challenge for John-117 and Cortana





	1. Meetings and Ice Breakers

He is to be paired with an AI. Dr. Halsey has this nasty habit of saying things that are far more complicated in very offhand sort of way. John, we are making updates to your armor and also, we will be implanting a Smart AI with you to increase your efficiency. 

Which, John is sure what she meant to say, but rather said it in - well, a very Dr. Halsey sort of way. Her name is Cortana, and she is staring at him from her pedestal. He supposes that she is meant to look like Dr. Halsey, but she is a mixture of her sharp gaze, and her air of superiority. However, as John notices, Cortana is something of own creation, she slouches slightly where Dr. Halsey stands straight and always at attention; Cortana is very free with her body language - an open book for the correct analyst as she raises eyebrows, places her hands on her hips and rolls her shoulders as if they’re real. Is that why he’s so hesitant? 

For all he knows, they are meant to showcase what the combination of human and AI can do. 

“What do you get when you combine a rhetorical question and a joke?” She says, her arms crossed as she continues to study him. John does not like this; he is the one that’s doing the open studying of her and he looks away with a slight flush in his cheeks. 

“I beg your pardon?” 

She sighs, trying again: 

“What do you get when you combine a rhetorical question and a joke?” 

He has to look at her; what sort of question is that? 

“... you can’t combine a joke and a rhetorical question.” He replies, frowning slightly that she’s trying to make jokes right now. 

“I guess we can call it this awkward moment.” 

John’s shoulders relax slightly; unsure of what to do with just her in a room. Scientists and technicians don’t really have time for the both of them, and his Mjolnir armor is being prepared to house her. For now, in this whirlwind moment they have each other to keep them company. 

“Look, if we’re going to be partners, we need to at least say something while staring at each other.” 

Partners. That’s a word that he doesn’t hear a lot from outside the Spartan group. She has looked at him, and she has determined that he is the one best suitable for keeping her alive. She doesn’t call him a soldier, she does not call him a freak or she does not regard this as a mission. 

She calls him partner. Just like that. There’s a heavy silence in the air before they take him back to prepare him. Cortana doesn’t seem to mind, she’s reading some file or the other or she’s reading some data inputs. 

Before they take him back, he says:    
  
“Cortana?” He asks as before he follows a scientist. 

“Yes, Chief?” 

“How many theoretical physicists does it take to change a lightbulb?” 

That gets her attention. With a wave of her hand, her work is moved off of her “screen” and there’s mischief in her eyes. 

“Humor me. How many theoretical physicists does it take to change a lightbulb?” 

“Two: one to hold the bulb and one to rotate the universe around it.” 

Her laughter at his dumb joke does make the corner of his mouth quirk a little bit. Maybe, just maybe, this won’t be so bad. 


	2. Knowing is Half the Battle (Realization)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onboard the Cairo, Johnson tries to get John to dress up for his lady friend. Or to realize that how he feels about said lady friend.

In reality, Avery found out about how they felt about each other before John or Cortana did. Sure, in “regular” relationships, there would be a physical attraction, but Avery knew John longer than most people did outside of the Spartans and that came with the burden of understanding his quirks. 

Avery saw the way that they acted around each other. Cortana, little by little, pulling John out of his shell and engaging with marines. There was always a longing look, followed by, what he assumed was the John equivalent of a blush. There was an incident where he caught a few marines making comments about how they’d like to be on her pedestal and why couldn’t they get an AI like that on their ships? There are a few things that can stop 6 foot, 200 hundred pound ODSTs, and that was the dark look from the Master Chief. 

Not that John was the only one that didn’t have his little tells, Cortana would make all sorts of excuses to check his armor, check his vitals - something happened on that ship after Halo blew up. Maybe they got closer, maybe the experience changed the both of them; all Johnson knew was that she was always making sure that John was alright. 

“You should wear a suit.” Avery said to John while they were fixing his armor. They were sitting in the officers lounge on the Cairo, waiting for the medal ceremony (which, he had to force John to go to by lying saying that Section 3 wouldn’t have any cameras). John was reading a holopad about some intel they received from deep space, waiting for his next deployment with Cortana. 

“I thought there weren’t going to be cameras.” John replied, not looking up from the holopad, “Spartans are allowed to - ”

“Yeah, yeah, I get what Spartans are allowed to do - but don’t you ever just want to shimmy yourself into an ill fitting suit to show off?” 

The “for the ladies”, was heavily implied and John’s quick “no” wasn’t helping him help him. 

“Cortana’s never seen you in it.” 

“She’s seen my file, and I’m sure she’s seen a neural layout of my entire nervous system.” 

“.... so, maybe she’d like it if you put a little effort into this ceremony.” 

John finally put down the holopad and narrowed his eyes at Avery. He was very well aware of the honor of having a Spartan be open with him, and he didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and he’d always known that John was a little shit, but sometimes there was a crack in that Master Chief persona and he was revealed to be a suspicious piece of shit. 

“Johnson.” 

“Com’on, I know what the ladies like. And this lady, I think she really likes you.” 

“I’m a real treat.” John retorted in disbelief, “Besides, I don’t think she thinks of me that way.” 

Oh, that was something. Was it doubt? Avery decided to prod a little deeper. 

“I mean, she chose you for a reason.” 

“I’m sure it has to do with the ONI propaganda.” 

How was he going to tell Lord Admiral Hood why he ejected the Master Chief out of an airlock? 

Well, you see sir, he obviously likes this AI and this AI obviously likes him back. I know, I know, it’s unconventional, but he openly jokes with her - wants to make a good impression for her. He just didn’t see it and, really sir, there are only so many cigars that I can go through. 

“Right, right, but - you know - ”

There was some hesitation on John’s part, and he lifted the holopad up again to focus on one particular sentence for no specific reason. 

“John, Boston isn’t that interesting.” 

A long arduous silence later: 

“... she treats me like a person.” 

Avery punched John in the arm before reaching for a celebratory cigar. Take that Catherine, you’re not the only Spartan whisperer around here - are you? If you were still here, anyway. 

“And?” 

John closed his eyes and grimaced, like it hurt to try and articulate feelings that no one told him existed and that he could feel. 

"I like that.” There was a beat, before John covered his face with the holopad to avoid further eye contact with Avery about the subject. 

“John, I think you’re one lucky guy.”

After all, Johnson knew what the ladies liked. 


	3. Chapter Three: Stare & Held Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Stare 
> 
> He should have said something, anything, rather than staring. 
> 
> 2\. Hold 
> 
> Touch is new, and addictive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote two for this day: one post Halo 4 that's canon and another AU where Cortana is human.

**The Reveal:** hours after her sacrifice, he realizes he shouldn’t have stared 

Why didn’t he tell her everything he wanted to? Why did he have to stand there and stare as she walked away from him? It hurts. It hurts like when he found out that all of his siblings were dead. It hurts like when he saw his home being glassed. It hurts like holding Johnson’s hand for the last time. 

The back of his head throbs, like something has been pulled too hard and left raw. Which is accurate, but usually is tended to. In times of death, he only finds comfort in the words that Petty Officer Mendez told him all those years ago: make sure that death isn’t in vain. It wasn’t in vain, was it? They should have gone together - always together - she could have saved a little bit of herself to be put back together again. 

Saving him was vanity. 

John stares out on Earth, wondering about the physical feelings that he’s experiencing. The regret of not telling her everything that he wanted to tell her. Her hand was against his chest, he should have grabbed it, pulled it and told her to get back into the chip. 

_ “I’ve always wanted to do that.”  _

He should have been brave and not been a coward, he would have told her things otherwise: 

_ Thank you for seeing me as a person.  _

_ Thank you for making sure I wasn’t alone.  _

_ Thank you for protecting me.  _

He would have told her that it was going to be okay, and that she wasn’t alone. 

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” 

Captain Lasky’s voice is a welcome reprieve from the next sensation that he’s feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

“Chief, I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.” 

The familiar coda repeated to him over and over again provides him comfort, a seal on something that’s threatening to escape from its pandora’s box. 

“The duty of soldiers is to protect, no matter what the cost.” 

Lasky says something about the fact that people aren’t machines, and that they were allowed to feel things. 

“She said that to me once - about being a machine.” 

The least he could have done was said that he loved her, before she died. 

* * *

**The Reveal:** once again he’s laying in a hospital bed, and this time nothing can keep them apart 

Having a physical body is strange for her. Standing requires balance, walking even more so, and the addition of clothes is unwelcome. Cortana is stared at, poked at, proded and studied multiple times to see how it’s possible, but in reality all she can say is “it could have been weirder.” 

What isn’t strange for her is waiting for John to open his eyes. This time, she’s holding his hand and feeling the warmth from it spread up her arm. The rough bits she knows are calluses, but not from touch, but from assumption from knowledge. 

He’s recovering from his injuries; in her opinion, it’s a nice way to say that he nuked himself and if it wasn’t for her he would have died. Every time she sees a Spartan IV, all she wants to do is tell them to stop ogling. If they’re good enough to replace them, the least they can do is ignore them for as long as they did. 

“I need you to wake up.” She whispers, threading her fingers through his own and holding his hand. “I need you, John.” 

Cortana rests her cheek on his hand, closing her eyes and taking in the smells and the sounds of the place. The monitors all beep in a steady rhythm, comforting her that he’s going to be okay, and that he’s going to wake up. She loves him dearly, she’s always known this, and in his own way he’s told her that he loves her too: he too has defied the gods and demons for her, he’s stood up for her when people haven’t considered her a human, and he’s gone through hell to bring her home. 

She’s addicted to holding him, gently caressing the side of his face and her thumb rubbing his sharp cheekbones. Cortana wants to spend hours just exploring her new senses with him; right now, he smells like medical alcohol and latex - what does he usually smell like? What does blood smell like? Gunpowder? What type of soap does he use? Is he always this warm? Is it always this comforting to be held by him? 

She allows herself his curiosity, crawling into his bed and curling up next to him and closing her eyes. 

“I love you, John.” 

The small hand movement to cover her hand with his on his chest is all the “I love you too” she needs. 

“Creep.” 


	4. Day 4:  In Rain or Shine (first dates)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> au of cortana surviving halo 4. john and cortana go on a date that isn’t john throwing himself off of ships or engaging in ship to john combat.

**Day Four, First Date:**

It’s raining. 

For so long she has wanted to feel what it would be like to be in the rain. Cortana watches people cover their heads and run from it in the medical facility that they’re in, but did they know how she envied them? No, she supposes not. John, something short of being shackled in this place, is reading in the corner. 

She’s looked at him from the inside out, she knows where every vein is, where every nerve ending, where every muscle meets bone; she didn’t know that his eyes were so unsettling when looked at for a very long time. She didn’t realize that his dark eyebrows and his dark eyelashes (which are exceptionally long, as the nurses have been muttering to themselves) just make them even more unsettling. He has a tick where when he’s interested in his reading - he prefers to read over watch, which is characteristically outdated - where he taps the top of the holopad as if itching to get the next page. 

“Boring read?” She asks, noticing that he isn’t so much reading as he is skimming from line to line. 

“Reading about me in the news is boring.” He says, placing the holopad on the table and scooting over for her to join him. 

“They never get any of the fun stuff right.” She replies sardonically as she slides next to him. To her, this proximity is nothing. He is open to her, he lets her in his space and she lets him into hers. 

“It’s over, you know.” She says, taking her hand in his and holding it tight. This new body, whether it be organic or not, whether it’s real or not (maybe she’s dead and this is what it’s like - all the thoughts that could have been are both her heaven and her hell), it’s wonderful. He gives it a little squeeze, a nonverbal acknowledgement that says she’s right. 

They sit for a moment, enjoying the moment and she can feel John relax slightly into her. He must have caught her wistful smile because the moment that he relaxes he’s already getting up and pulling her towards him. 

“I have cabin fever.” He says nonchalantly - he’s a terrible liar, “I want to go outside.” 

“Outside?” She says, “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly a sunny day at the park.” 

He isn’t putting on his boots, and he isn’t really listening to her. This, this will take some getting used to. Usually, she’s just along for the ride and she gets to have a front seat view to whatever antics he has. Now, she has a choice: follow along or stay back and do the smart thing, even if it isn’t as interesting. 

“... who am I kidding?” She says to herself as she gingerly starts to walk to follow him. She’s taking too long for him, she can tell, because within ten seconds, he’s scooping her off of her feet and they’re walking in the courtyard in the rain. 

There will be a report submitted by a guard of this medical facility that will be submitted to his supervisor. It will be as follows: 

“1400: Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 and Unknown Female were standing in the rain. The two individuals say nothing and do nothing for approximately five minutes as she is arguing with him in a raised voice about quote “ you cannot just pick people up when they are not moving as fast as you want them to!”

1430: Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 and Unknown Female are still out in the rain, this time she seems overly familiar with the Master Chief. The two have been outside during the majority of the storm and are watching the sun part through the clouds. She has requested of me to bring a chair for her to stand on. Unknown female stood on the chair, and proceeded to - show the Master Chief affection on his cheek. 

1445: The Master Chief has stolen her jello cup and is informing her that he is a war hero, and therefore deserves her rations as well as his.” 

Not included in his report is the fact that the entire staff had a pool to figure out when the two of them would go on a date. 


	5. Day 5: Plans (meeting the family)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veta gets a rough introduction to why Fred is the way he is. On a rare mission, John and Veta scratch each other’s backs. He breaks into a place for her, and she gives him info on an impending attack on Biko.

“You don’t have to do this,” Fred told her over a secure line. His face was dark with worry, more so than usual. 

“So, he told you, huh?” Veta replied back, reaching out with her fingertips so that it was like she was there to cup his cheek and tell him that it was okay. 

“We don’t keep secrets from each other,” Fred retorted, crossing his arms. 

She felt guilty for deploying the one-two punch with him; distract Fred with something that he cares more about than his feelings on the subject and then go ahead and do it anyway. And Fred loves his brother more than anything. 

“It’s important, Fred. All I know is that he got an encrypted message from a friend and that he needs all the info that I have on Sapien Sunrise.” 

“And you won’t just give it to him because…?” 

She had been packing during the entire conversation, and she owed Fred the respect to tell him the truth. John was the only one that could break into an insurrectionist cell filled with Spartan IVs, Fred couldn’t. Everyone knew how to spot the Spartan, but no one had ever, ever seen John’s face. 

“John would be saving a lot of lives, Fred.” She conceded, “I’ll drop him right back.” 

Fred looked over his shoulder, as if he was seeking advice from someone else in the room. 

“You better, Agent Lopis.” Kelly’s british accent filtered in through the comms, the stalwart protector of Spartan Blue Team. Veta knew what that tone meant: we’ve been apart from him long enough, don’t keep him too long from us. 

“Don’t worry, next time I’ll leave the Gammas with you for some babysitting.” 

“Veta.” He called to her softly, in that way that made her melt and her cheeks warm. “Be careful.” 

\--

He should have told her to be prepared for the long awkward silences that hung between the two of them. John was quiet, and a hyper-perfectionist about his gear and left little to talk about the two of them. Maybe she should have practiced on Linda, first, but the sniper always gave her the impression that if she lingered too long without bringing an offering that she was wasting her time. 

He was wearing civilian gear, but somehow insisted that it had to be the most ill-fitting clothes that they had on staff. John definitely was out of touch with how things were done now at ONI, but he did have clout, she’d give him that. 

“Is there something I can help you with, Agent Lopis?” He asked politely, not looking up from cleaning his magnum. 

“No, not really, sir.” She retorted. Wow, was she sure that he didn’t work for ONI? Fred never made her uncomfortable or even respectful. Granted, she wasn’t force fed propaganda with Fred’s face on it and the fact that she hated that propaganda. In front of her was the symbol of everything she hated about the UNSC; the enforcer, the wall, the oppressor and yet now she understood more. 

She smiled slightly, looking at John (he couldn’t stop her from mentally making him a human) thankful that she had met Fred, had opened her eyes to see that there was depth in them. 

“What’s the plan?” She asked, realizing that by this time Fred would have already informed the team of the plan and any contingency plans should the mission be compromised. 

“Gammas are providing overwatch while I infiltrate the Sapien Sunrise cell. Retrieve information on traitors and report back.” 

There was a lot to unpack there: Gammas are Spartans, traitors, though while documented Spartans are not spartans. Got it. 

“That’s it?” She blurted out, “I need to go in there with you.” 

“No.” He retorted quickly, “There is someone waiting for you.”

Nice to know that it goes both ways. 

\--

“You didn’t bring him back.” Linda started the moment she saw Veta. 

“They’re calling him a traitor.” Kelly added, staring at her with a dark expression that was borderline murderous. 

“I couldn’t stop him.” Veta replied, “one moment I was in the back of a warthog with him, firing shots at a traitorous Spartan IV cell while John disarmed a bomb - which by the way, was not part of the plan - the next moment he’s onboard a prowler vessel and taking a ship to Biko.” 

Veta was frazzled. The mission was an astounding success, but John’s versions of plans were just whatever it took to get the job done and more. What should have taken three hours tops ended up being twelve hours of running for everyone’s lives. To provide an overview of what happened: 

  1. Cell infiltrated, hurtful propaganda about the Master Chief overheard, beacon placed 
  2. Find out that they’re planning multiple explosions in key refugee camps to blame it on the Sangheili to force the UNSC to wipe them out
  3. Find out about an assassination of one of Them Vadamee’s supporters on Biko 
  4. John throwing her on a pelican to evacuate her and the gammas while disarming a bomb 
  5. Veta disobeyed his orders and jumped into the fray, where John strapped a bomb with a brick on the accelerator to drive into their center of operations 



She was tired, and defeated and she couldn’t stand the way that Fred was looking at her. Veta didn’t know what came over her, but like always she found herself in his arms and burying her face into his chest. 

“I’m sorry.” He said, stroking her hair gently and running his thumb down her spine. 

“Why are you sorry?” She laughed into his chest, holding him tight and just wanting to melt into him. He tensed up, probably because he thought he was saying the right thing, but wasn’t. She sighed, squeezing him slightly to let him know it was okay. 

“Are you sorry that you didn’t warn me that your brother just does what he wants when he wants?” That got an amused reaction out of him, worthy enough for her to just tilt her head up and ask for a kiss on the cheek. 

“Next time I’ll work it into the plan.” 


	6. Laughter, Kisses and Flustered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> three small drabbles for the prompts for laughter, kisses and flustered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Laughter and Kisses: John/Cortana   
> Flustered: Fred/Veta

**Day Seven, Laughter:**

She didn’t have anyone to tell how addictive his laughter is. Of course, John’s laughter is a hidden secret amongst those he trusts intimately and the fact that she is one of those people makes her glow just a little brighter on the pedestal. His laugh is an undignified exhale, a deep rumble in his chest that makes his shoulders shrug ever so gently. It’s so welcome to see him relaxed in a room, back against a bunk that has his guns, rather than his body. Probably because he’s used to sleeping in cargo holds, but even in this tiny space, it suited him. 

“I can’t believe you sometimes,” she said, sighing deeply in amusement as he shrugged his shoulders, “You probably scared that poor boy half to death.” 

John shrugged at her, obviously she knew he felt a little guilty, “It was fine.” 

“Yes, watching a Spartan jump onto a careening ghost armed with two grenades is the best example for the youth of the UEG is  _ fine _ .” 

There it was again, the small rumbling in his chest that she could hear - like a content cat purring. 

“When you put it that way-” 

“You mean, the truth - ”

“It sounds like it worked better than anticipated.” 

Dammit, he was right.  _ That _ was not as great as the purring. 

**Day Eight, First Kiss:**

Let him have this moment, even if it looked ridiculous. A hard light being that could be any size that she wanted, creating any space she wanted, but she opted to stand on a chair to gently kiss him on the cheek. 

“You found me, just in time.” 

“Worth the wait?” 

There they were, her blue light against his scarred cheek, his hand in hers as they held each other. 

“Absolutely.” 

**Day Ten, Flustered:**

Even though biologically, John was five years younger than him, Fred could never escape the older brother look from John.

“Look, I passed out.” 

It was the eyebrow, the moment that it was raised, he knew it was over. 

“I can’t believe I told her that I’d ride top next time.” 

Nope, it wasn’t over. Kelly was leaning against him and John had crossed his arms. 

“Didn’t think you’d end up being such a deviant, did we?” She said, and as if on cue, John sighed heavily. 

What a nightmare. What an absolute nightmare. The terrible two were back together, and in that moment they were teenagers. Maybe, had they had the war never happened, he wouldn’t feel like a flustered fourteen year old that got caught by his siblings and instead feel like a normal 46 year old that had an adult relationship. 

“Don’t forget the time that he hugged her when he was half naked.” 

Linda never misses a shot. 


End file.
